Review: Restless Slumber by K.J. Sutton

Title: Restless Slumber
Author: K.J. Sutton
Series: Book Two in the Fortuna Sworn Series
Genre: Fantasy
Published: February 6, 2020
Source: ARC Provided by the Author (in exchange for an honest review)
My Rating: 4 Stars!



Book Description:
"Before I met you, I thought Nightmares were creatures of pain and darkness. Why, then, are you constantly seeking freedom and light?"

Fortuna's entire life has changed.

She has no idea how to balance her new responsibilities and who she used to be. There are hundreds of faeries in her head, her brother seems to have lost touch with reality, and a werewolf won’t leave her side. Maybe the utter lack of control is why her abilities seem to be changing, as well.

Then there’s Collith. Enigmatic, beautiful, and infuriating. Not only a king of the faeries she despises so much, but also her mate. His gentle pursuit causes confusion in her normally unwavering relationship with Oliver.

As a result of it all, Fortuna now finds herself surrounded by new enemies and ones from the past. The question isn’t whether she is strong enough to make change in such a corrupt court.

It’s whether she will survive long enough to do it.


Content warning: This novel depicts scenes of sexual violence and domestic abuse. 

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This is such a unique fantasy series. With characters ever bit as interesting as the powers and secrets they possess. It is one action packed ride that I enjoyed every single page of and while I enjoyed book one of this series, I wasn't quite prepared for how much I would love book two. 

It was even more imaginative, action filled and numerous times throughout, kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next.

It was darker and richer and just...so much more. 

 The explosive ending was so hard to take and I so was not prepared for it all. It's going to make the wait for book three, even harder than it already was going to be. 

I truly can not wait for more, I need to see where Fortuna goes next! 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Girls With Razor Hearts by Suzanne Young

Title: Girls With Razors Hearts
Author: Suzanne Young
Series: Book Two in the Girls With Sharp Sticks Series
Genre: Fantasy
Published By: Simon Pulse (March 17, 2020)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
My Rating: 4 Stars!



Book Description:
It’s time to fight back in this second novel in a thrilling, subversive near future series from New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young about a girls-only private high school that is far more than it appears to be.

Make me a girl with a razor heart…

It’s been weeks since Mena and the other girls of Innovations Academy escaped their elite boarding school. Although traumatized by the violence and experimentations that occurred there, Mena quickly discovers that the outside world can be just as unwelcoming and cruel. With no one else to turn to, the girls only have each other—and the revenge-fueled desire to shut down the corporation that imprisoned them.

The girls enroll in Stoneridge Prep, a private school with suspect connections to Innovations, to identify the son of an investor and take down the corporation from the inside. But with pressure from Leandra, who revealed herself to be a double-agent, and Winston Weeks, an academy investor gone rogue, Mena wonders if she and her friends are simply trading one form of control for another. Not to mention the woman who is quite literally invading Mena’s thoughts—a woman with extreme ideas that both frighten and intrigue Mena.


And as the girls fight for freedom from their past—and freedom for the girls still at Innovations—they must also face new questions about their existence…and what it means to be girls with razor hearts.

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Girls with Razor Hearts was everything one would expect from the talented Young. It was so realistic in it's simplicity, horrifying in the what ifs, thought provoking, unique, and so, so, addicting. 

I even dare say I loved this more than the first, which, let's be honest is rare in most series, trilogies, and duologies. 

The girls were more fierce while also still maintaining their love for each other and those they've come to trust. In fact, the girl power in this book is what really makes it stand out. Girls in this horrible dark world that Young has created, have very little power anymore yet theses extraordinary girls, are winning that power back and are refusing to back down. They are going to fight for what is right, fair, and deserving. 

I love love the women these girls are becoming. How they are progressing and changing and adapting. 

I can not wait to see what is in store for them next. This was every bit as dramatic, exciting, and enchanting as it's predecessor and I want more! 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Title: Undercover Bromance
Author: Lyssa Kay Adams
Series: Book Two in the Bromance Book Club Series
Genre: Contemporary
Published By: Berkley (March 10, 2020)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
My Rating: 4.5 Stars!



Book Description:
Braden Mack thinks reading romance novels makes him an expert in love, but he’ll soon discover that real life is better than fiction. 

Liv Papandreas has a dream job as a sous chef at Nashville’s hottest restaurant. Too bad the celebrity chef owner is less than charming behind kitchen doors. After she catches him harassing a young hostess, she confronts him and gets fired. Liv vows revenge, but she’ll need assistance to take on the powerful chef.

Unfortunately, that means turning to Braden Mack. When Liv’s blackballed from the restaurant scene, the charismatic nightclub entrepreneur offers to help expose her ex-boss, but she is suspicious of his motives. He’ll need to call in reinforcements: the Bromance Book Club.


Inspired by the romantic suspense novel they’re reading, the book club assists Liv in setting up a sting operation to take down the chef. But they’re just as eager to help Mack figure out the way to Liv’s heart... even though she’s determined to squelch the sparks between them before she gets burned.

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After reading the first book I absolutely knew I was going to love Mack and Liv's story, what I wasn't prepared for was how much more than the first book, I was going to love it. 

If you want more humor, more romance, more cheesy yet irresistible one liners and more of the Russian and all his lactose intolerance, this is the story for you. 

It will be a toss up between how much more you will laugh, swoon, and how quickly you can turn the pages to get more. So many emotions will run through you while reading this you will feel as if you are on a roller coaster and right there with them through it all. Simply said, it was just more. 

It is hard not to love all the men in these stories. They are so sincere and they truly have hearts of gold. And even though they make mistakes, they steal the show with their bromance and be willing to do whatever it takes to get the one that they love, that it makes up for everything else. 

The women on the other hand? They are cranky and downright mean and awful at times and, I'm not going to lie, sometimes I found it hard to even like them and their choices but all in all, the author still somehow manages to make you feel for them and they do redeem themselves in the end. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Crush the King by Jennifer Estep

Title: Crush the King
Author: Jennifer Estep
Series: Book Three in the Crown of Shards Series
Genre: Fantasy
Published By: Harper Voyager (March 17, 2020)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
My Rating: 5 Stars!




Book Description:
A fierce gladiator queen must face off against her enemies in an epic battle in this next thrilling installment of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep’s Crown of Shards series—an action-packed adventure full of magic, murderous machinations, courtly intrigue, and pulse-pounding romance.

Queen Everleigh Blair of Bellona has survived the mass murder of the royal family, become a fearsome warrior trained by an elite gladiator troupe, and unleashed her ability to destroy magic. After surviving yet another assassination attempt orchestrated by the conniving king of Morta, Evie has had enough. It’s time to turn the tables and take the fight to her enemies. 

There is no better opportunity to strike than during the Regalia Games, a time when warriors, nobles, and royals from all the kingdoms come together to compete in various sporting events. With the help of her loyal friends, Evie goes on the attack at the Regalia, but things don’t turn out the way she hopes. Soon, she is facing a terrifying new threat, and she will have to dig deep and learn even more about her growing magic if she has any chance of defeating her foes.


Because to secure her throne and ensure her kingdom’s survival, Evie must think like a true Bellonan: she must outsmart and outwit her enemies . . . and crush the king. 

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Jennifer Estep knows how to not only create some of the very best imaginative worlds out there, but characters who are fierce and brave. Raw and relatable. People you want to know, embrace and hang out with, danger or no danger that seems to constantly haunt them.

She seamlessly knows how to blend realism with fantasy and make something so irresistible and hard to put down, that you never want to leave the worlds you have suddenly become a part of. 

I have felt that way about many of her books and series, but with the Crown of Shards series, for whatever reason, I connected with it immediately and never wanted the books to end. Each one is an amazing, action packed adventure with just the right amount of all the good stuff. Romance, danger, magic, food, friendship, deceit, lies, battles to the death, you name it, it has it and then some. 

Her latest is no exception to the rule. I adored this. I relished it, I devoured it, I. Wanted. More.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Title: The Sun Down Motel
Author: Simone St. James
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Mystery/Paranormal
Published By: Berkley (February 18, 2020)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
My Rating: 4 Stars!


Book Description:
The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.


Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…

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St. James has quickly become a favorite author of mine with her realistic characters, suspenseful mysteries, and her ability to weave in a slight, sometimes spooky paranormal element to almost all her stories, her books have the perfect blend of genres that are sure to please even the toughest of critics.

With settings and places that take on a personality and life of their own, The Sun Down Motel was by far a read that kept me on edge with ghosts galore, a murder mystery decades old and a disappearance that was every bit as thrilling as the rest, this truly was a read that was every bit as hard to forget as it was to put down. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Review: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

Title: Of Curses and Kisses
Author: Sandhya Menon
Series: Book One in the St. Rosetta's Academy Series
Genre: YA Contemporary
Published By: Simon Pulse (February 18, 2020)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
My Rating: 4 Stars!


Book Description:
From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…


As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

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One of my absolute favorite fairy tales is Beauty and the Beast and so, I might be more picky about re-tellings because, it really is such a classic. And even though I can be picky and maybe even a bit harsh sometimes in what I do and don't like when it comes to those that mess with such an amazing classical tale, I have to say, I still pick them up and read them like they are candy.

Of Curses and Kisses was no exception. Combine and classic retelling of my absolute favorite fairy tale and an author I already love and adore and you had one read that is pretty much irresistible to this girl. 

And happily, I can say that neither the author nor the retelling disappointed.

I adored this book. The characters, the classic spin on an old favorite. The modernization, the diversity, the wit, the friendship, the family connections, truly, just all of it. Completely worth every single minute I spent reading it. So much fun and I am so excited it is going to be part of a series. I can't wait to see what she will do next with all of these fun loving and adorable characters. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

Promo Post: The Vineyards of Champagne by Juliet Blackwell

Title: The Vineyards of Champagne

Author: Juliet Blackwell

Publisher: Berkley (January 21, 2020)

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Women's Contemporary

Book Description:

About THE VINEYARDS OF CHAMPAGNE

Beneath the cover of France's most exquisite vineyards, a city of women defy an army during World War I, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Carousel of Provence....

Deep within the labyrinth of caves that lies below the lush, rolling vineyards of the Champagne region, an underground city of women and children hums with life. Forced to take shelter from the unrelenting onslaught of German shellfire above, the bravest and most defiant women venture out to pluck sweet grapes for the harvest. But wine is not the only secret preserved in the cool, dark cellars...

In present day, Rosalyn Acosta travels to Champagne to select vintages for her Napa-based employer. Rosalyn doesn't much care for champagne--or France, for that matter. Since the untimely death of her young husband, Rosalyn finds it a challenge to enjoy anything at all. But as she reads through a precious cache of WWI letters and retraces the lives lived in the limestone tunnels, Rosalyn will unravel a mystery hidden for decades...and find a way to savor her own life again.

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About the Author:

Juliet Blackwell is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels based in France, including The Vineyards of Champagne, The Lost Carousel of Provence, Letters from Paris and The Paris Key. She also writes the Witchcraft Mystery series and the Haunted Home Renovation series. As Hailey Lind, Blackwell wrote the Agatha-nominated Art Lover's Mystery series. A former anthropologist, social worker, and professional artist, Juliet is a California native who has spent time in Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Italy, the Philippines, and France.

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